WE hear often about the cost the elderly have to pay in care homes, apparently ‘Which’ magazine estimates it is £563 for a week. That is out of money that has taken them all their lives to save.

Why do we never hear how much it costs to keep a murderer for a week? For all their amenities for learning, pleasure activities, sport, computers etc, plus their keep and clothing, medication and health problems, that must run into billions over a long sentence, not to mention new identities all paid from our taxes.

As for corporal punishment, yes there were mistakes made in the early nineties but there is a lot of new technology since then and with things like DNA these things would not occur, a new referendum on this issue would be very good.

All the billions saved would pay for the care of the elderly and put the NHS back on track.

Also the prisons would not be over-crowded. There needs to be a massive change in our laws or this country will just get worse.

In all other countries they would not be dealt with so lightly.

Also the birch was quite a good deterrent for a lot of offences, but something must be done as crime is now out of hand in this country. All this would release more money, for other things.

Then the elderly would not keep hearing that they were living too long and all their savings, taken from them after they had worked very hard for their money some on very dangerous jobs in munition factories to help save this country in the early forties.

Now their money is taken from them and they are just told they are a strain on the economy.

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